How to Prevent Burnout in the Workplace
Burnout is REAL.
I mean - so real.
You wouldn't be an architect if you haven't been burned out at least once in your career.
I'm sure every one of you has a burnout story. If you do, please share them in the comment below so we can all support each other to overcome our burnout.
In today's video, I want to share with you my own burnout story because you deserve to work in the profession that you love so much without sacrificing your health.
You Can't Self-Care Your Way Out of Burnout
When we talk about burnout, we often say do more self-care...
Try meditation.
Do some yoga.
Go to a spa...
But you can't just self-care your way out of burnout.
Going to a spa is just treating the symptoms of your burnout but not the underlying cause.
And the underlying cause is usually caused by something bigger than you.
It's caused by an imbalance between your high workload and too few resources that are provided to you.
It can also be caused by lack of support from your supervisors or colleague so you don't feel like you belong at work.
It can be caused by feeling disconnected - that the work that you do doesn't match what's important to you as a person.
So it's actually a bigger problem that your firm has to fix.
But there are still things that we could do to prevent ourselves from burning out.
I want to share some tips with you today so hopefully you won't get burned out like I did.
How I Fell Into a Massive Burnout
I talked a little bit about it in this other video on how burning out led me to redefining my own success.
It was in 2015 when I was working on a really important project for my studio. Very high profile with some very demanding clients.
It was my 1st big project that I get to be involved in, so I was all in.
I was working until midnight every day and going back to the office every weekend.
That lasted over a year and I didn't actually realize this.
But I was burning out.
What Burnout Looked Like to Me
This is what burnout looked like to me.
I started to suffer from tiredness all the time.
This is not the kind you get from lack of sleep like you were in architectural school.
I’d sleep 12 hours on the weekend to “catch up” on my sleep and yet still feel exhausted throughout the day.
I became a very negative person.
My burnout threw me into depression and anxiety everyday.
There were so much in my head that I had to take melatonin to fall asleep even when I was exhausted after getting home at midnight from work.
I stopped taking care of myself.
Long gone are the days hitting hot yoga every day, or even eating a decent home cook dinner.
I feel like Revit was my one and only best friend.
Instead of socializing, hanging out with my friends, or even just going to happy hour with coworkers, I was always just Reviting away.
I started to ignore my family.
When my life wasn’t overwhelmed, I’d face time with my parents in HK every day. Now? I couldn’t even bring myself to answer a text.
I failed my ARE exam.
I've always been good at passing exams. So when I failed SPD a couple months ago - the first exam I ever failed in my life, I had a mini panic attack.
That's when I realized I need to make a change.
5 Steps to Prevent Burnout
1. Stop Being so Perfect
If there's one thing in common of all architects - we are all perfectionist.
We want those lines to be perfectly aligned, the Revit model to be perfectly organized and the entourage to have perfect shadows in Photoshop.
Stop it.
We will never be the perfect drafter, the best renderer, or the best modeler.
Because we simply can’t and shouldn’t spend 24/7 perfecting a rendering.
That CD set is not going to be perfect; that’s why there are RFIs and submittals (and sometimes change orders).
I am not saying don’t do your job.
Do it as best as you can without stressing out.
A lot of time this is not your fault. It could be a client decision, a lack of staffing or there is simply just too much work and not enough time.
I started adopting the motto - Done better than perfect.
And I told my team that every time we have a deadline to hit. I would push them to go home on time because done is better than perfect.
2. Find Your Creative Outlet
There are a couple things I love other than architecture - writing, branding, marketing and organizing. So I started creating content as my creative outlet from my first job.
Let's face it.
Real life architecture isn’t as fun as what we imagined in school.
You'll need to find your creativity in other means to fulfill your soul.
Here’s a few ideas to start you off!
Design your own personal brand
Go learn about photography…
Join a competition with some of your friends
Do that one thing you love that you keep pushing off.
For me, it's content creation that encompasses both my passion for writing, branding, marketing and architecture - and may be one day organizing!
3. Go Eat a Donut
You know that person in your office that’s always happy and smiling? You’re probably wondering why the hell is she so cheerful.
We have one here in the office.
She seems like she has no worries in her life.
She is always the passionate leader that’s cheering everyone on in her team.
She’s always smiling no matter how much work we have to do.
Well, I found the secret (and all I had to do was go ask her).
“When you get older like me, you’ll realize that taking a little break isn’t going to kill anyone. All those deadlines will always get done one way or the other. So go eat a donut, go out for lunch, go to the gym. Believe that yourself and your team will get it done and it will be okay.”
That changed my perspective not only in architecture - but in life.
As we all know, it's architecture - not medicine.
Taking a break isn’t going to kill anyone!
I encourage you today to step outside of your office, your home, or wherever you’re working from.
Go eat a donut, or pizza, or ice cream, or whatever.
I won’t judge.
Just go out. Take a break. Breathe. It’ll get done - I promise.
4. Trust Your Team
You’re hitting a major deadline, and your boss gives you 6 not so experienced team members to help.
That’s good right? At least you’re getting help.
Well as it turns out....
You have to get them familiar with this super complicated project.
You have to teach them Revit which they know nothing about.
You’re also teaching them how to do anything in a CD set.
You’re answering SO MANY questions that you can’t even focus on your own work.
Sounds familiar?
That was me in 2015.
I was struggling so much between meeting the impossible deadline and help them do their work that at one point I just wanted to give up.
But instead what I did changed everything.
I let go.
It took a lot for me to finally let go and trust that they can do it. Let’s just say I stopped being a control freak. (Stop being so perfect remember?)
Architecture is a team effort.
You alone won’t build a building by yourself.
If you can’t let it go and trust your team, you won’t have a team.
You will be surprised what they can do when you give them freedom and guidance.
5. Say No and Go Home
When was the last time you left on time from your job? When was the last time you left your studio before 2am?
The true moment I really stopped feeling burnout was when I started going home on time.
But more importantly when I started saying no.
Believe me - it’s so hard to do.
When I worked normal hours I felt like I was slacking off.
When I was in my bed at 11pm, I felt like I should've just left work.
When I said no to my boss, I felt like I was betraying my team.
But you just gotta do it. You gotta say no effectively so you can go home on time.
I'll make a video about saying no at work cause this is a really important topic to talk about.
But you have to stop feeling guilty.
Stop feeling like you need to keep working forever.
Stop the evil voice that’s telling you staying late means you’re getting more work done (because really you’re not.)
Just Stop It.
Architecture is not your life. We need to live our life outside of architecture.
So there you have it.
All architects are workaholics - that’s how we got through architectural school.
Sometimes we are just so freaking obsessed with work that we slowly get burnt out without realizing it.
I hope that this video encourages you to step back from your work and prevent burnout before it even happens to you.
Because you deserve to actually enjoy the job and profession that you love and worked so hard for without sacrificing your health for it.
And if you get nothing else out of this video, go eat a donut*.*
Until next time, keep inspiring and taking action!
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